Course: Access to Cancer Surgery in a Universal Health Care System During the COVID-19 Pandemic
CME Credits: 1.00
Released: 2021-03-11
For many cancers, surgery is central to diagnosis and treatment and is the only curative modality. Treatment delay can result in a missed opportunity for cure and can worsen outcomes.- Postponing cancer surgery may cost more lives than can be saved by diverting surgical resources and services to managing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection., Delays in surgical care and a backlog of new cancer diagnoses will place unprecedented pressures on health care systems, particularly those with a limited ability to increase throughput. Data are lacking on the effect of pandemic deferral policies on cancer surgery case volumes and whether specific subgroups have been disproportionately affected. These data are required to inform surgical policies during future waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring optimal outcomes and equitable care. Although sociodemographic factors (such as belonging to a minority racial or ethnic group, having low income, and having a nonrural residence) have been associated with increased COVID-19 infection rates and less access to treatment,, little is known about whether these factors were also associated with access to cancer surgery during the pandemic. Therefore, we sought to quantify the cancer surgical backlog and determine whether there were differences in sociodemographic and hospital characteristics among patients undergoing cancer surgery in the pre– and peri–COVID-19 periods.
Educational Objective
To identify the key insights or developments described in this article
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